1022 Evergreen Place (27 page)

“I
think taking your parents to dinner is a lovely idea,” Mary Jo said as she slid into the booth across from Mack at D.D.'s on the Cove. They'd arrived first and been seated.

Linc and Lori had agreed to watch Noelle for the evening. The baby, familiar with her aunt and uncle, had gone to them without a fuss.

“Aren't
you
the one who said we should tell them about the engagement over dinner?” Mack smiled. He picked up the wine list and began to study it while Mary Jo read over the menu.

“When I suggested dinner, I assumed I'd cook.”

“This is a celebration,” Mack said. He reached for her left hand, and she flexed her fingers, showing off her diamond ring. “I didn't want you to have to do all that extra work.”

This man who would soon be her husband was considerate, thoughtful, loving. As it stood now, Mary Jo wasn't sure what they were going to do regarding David. His presence in their lives hung over them like a storm cloud. Either it would eventually blow past or it would rain down upon them in torrents. Mary Jo was braced for
whatever happened, whatever the future held. One thing was certain; she wouldn't allow David to take Noelle away from her. Mack wouldn't, either. They'd stand side by side and face any threat from David together.

“Here's Mom now,” Mack said. He stood to greet his mother as the hostess escorted her to their booth.

Corrie kissed her son's cheek and smiled down at Mary Jo, who held her left hand under the table, in her lap. “Roy's parking the car. We got caught in traffic.”

“Traffic?” Mack repeated with a laugh. “You could walk to the restaurant.” The McAfee family home was up the hill, only five or six blocks from the waterfront.

“True,” Corrie admitted, “however, we did drive and we had to wait at the stoplight.”

Mack shook his head. “You've been away from Seattle too long.”

Mack's mother smiled as she pulled a menu toward her.

Mary Jo had already chosen her meal. The fresh Alaskan halibut, steamed and then topped with shrimp, cheese and a dollop of sour cream sounded delicious. Her brothers had always been meat-and-potatoes people and she rarely cooked fish. Now that she was living on her own, she took every opportunity to sample the bounty of the Pacific Northwest.

Roy joined them, sitting in the booth next to Mack. “Sorry we're late,” he said.

They weren't, not really. Well, maybe a minute or two. Mack got his promptness from his family, Mary Jo thought. This was another admirable trait he shared with his parents.

“Roy,” Corrie said, glancing up from her menu, “on your way in, did you notice that the special of the day is oysters?”

“Fresh from Hood Canal,” Mack added. “That's what I'm having.”

Roy didn't bother to pick up his menu. “Sounds good to me, too.”

Corrie continued to study the offerings. “Everything looks so wonderful, it's hard to decide.”

“While you're thinking,” Roy said, “I'd like to say this dinner invitation is a pleasant surprise. It isn't every day one of our children treats us to a meal out.”

“There's a very good reason,” Mack said, smiling tenderly at Mary Jo.

“I suspected as much.” Roy leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “You want my help, right?”

“Help?” Mary Jo asked in confusion.

“With Jacob Dennison's letters. I talked to Mack about it the other day and he said the two of you have hit a dead end.”

“Well, yes,” Mary Jo began, “but that's—”

“Actually, Dad,” Mack said, gently cutting off Mary Jo's response. “We could definitely use some help with that if you have the time.”

“I like nothing better than solving a good mystery.” He sent his wife a smug glance as he spoke.

Corrie sighed and directed her question to Mack. “That's the reason you asked us to dinner?”

“Well, no.” He was about to explain when the waiter came for their drink order.

“I believe we're all having fish,” Roy said. “So I suggest a white wine.”

“We'll take a bottle of your best champagne,” Mack told the waiter, ignoring his father's advice. “It isn't every day a man gets engaged.”

At his announcement, Corrie nearly flew out of her seat. “I knew it! I just knew it.” Grinning, Mary Jo raised her left hand, and Corrie shrieked with delight. “Oh,
Mack, I'm thrilled. And the ring's beautiful.” She took Mary Jo by the shoulders and hugged her close. “This is absolutely
perfect.
One day we're longing to be grandparents and then suddenly we discover we're going to have three.”

“Three?” Mack said, looking bewildered. “Is Linnette having twins?”

Roy, as usual, got straight to the point. “It's Gloria,” he said.

“Gloria,” Mack repeated, frowning. “I didn't even know she was seeing anyone.”

“We didn't, either,” Corrie told him. “We only just heard the news ourselves…. I probably should've let her tell you herself.”

“I'm glad you said something,” Mack said, concern in his voice.

“Let's get back to you and Mary Jo,” Corrie said eagerly. “Have you set a date?”

“Not yet,” Mary Jo said.

“But soon,” Mack insisted.

She nodded as they locked eyes.

“I'm thinking August,” Mack said next.

“August?”
Mary Jo and Corrie chimed in simultaneously.

“Mack,” Corrie said, pressing her hand over her heart. “That's next month!”

Mack looked from his mother to Mary Jo. “Is that a problem?”

Mary Jo didn't know how to answer. “I… We haven't discussed what kind of wedding we're going to have.” Between Mack's schedule and her own, they hadn't had time to go over the details of their engagement. Nor had they given any thought at all to the wedding itself or a honeymoon or anything else.

“Do you want a church wedding?” Roy asked.

“I do,” Mary Jo answered.

“I guess,” was Mack's reply.

“You guess?” Mary Jo muttered, and rolled her eyes.

“Okay, okay,” Mack said, recovering quickly, “I definitely want a church wedding.”

“What about a reception?”

Mary Jo and Mack both nodded.

“Would you two want a dinner with the reception?” Corrie asked.

Mary Jo hadn't considered that. It sounded more expensive than they'd be able to afford. “Would a cake, maybe some mixed nuts and those colorful mints be enough?”

“That's fine,” Corrie assured her.

“If Mary Jo wants a dinner, that's okay by me,” Mack said decisively.

Corrie smiled at her son. “Serving a dinner might mean postponing the wedding by a month or two,” she explained. “These things take time and planning.”

Mack shook his head. “Then we can do without the meal.”

Mary Jo couldn't hold back a laugh. Mack's eagerness to marry her was endearing—and it also sent a chill of excitement through her. Excitement about the days and nights ahead….

The champagne arrived and they ordered their meals. Once their flutes were filled, Roy offered a lovely toast. Mack's normally succinct father was downright lyrical and his kind words brought tears to her eyes.

For most of the meal they discussed wedding plans, to the point that Mary Jo's head started to spin. She'd only drunk half a glass of champagne or she might've thought the alcohol was affecting her.

Watching Mack with his parents, seeing how close he was to Linnette, she recognized once again that this was a man she could trust. Mack had been brought up with the
same values she had. Knowing Ben, she realized David had been raised that way, too, but at some point, years before, he'd abandoned those values for his own selfish purposes.

Their dinners were served and Mary Jo's halibut was every bit as good as she'd imagined. Better. Perhaps it was because of the occasion; she couldn't tell. Mack's family had welcomed her, accepting her and Noelle without question, without voicing a single doubt. How fortunate she was to marry into a family like this!

As they ordered coffee, Mack returned to the subject of the letters. “Dad, you mentioned Jacob Dennison when you first got here.”

“I did. Your mother and I had a small wager going.”

“And I won,” Corrie said, looking pleased with herself. “Your father assumed your dinner invitation had to do with those letters.”

“And your mother assumed it was because you two had something important to tell us.”

“Which they did,” Corrie stated gleefully.

“I would like to remind you,” Roy said with a comical scowl, “that you made the same assumption once before and you were totally off base.”

“Yes.” Corrie nodded. “I was then, but I'm not now.”

Mack held up his hand. “The thing is, Mary Jo and I ran into a problem in our research. So we kind of dropped it for a while.”

“It's been fascinating, learning about World War II,” she told them. “Mack and I rented the movie
The Longest Day
and we found out even more about the Normandy invasion.”

“Jacob was part of the 101st Airborne unit that dropped in behind enemy lines,” Mack reminded them.

“One group missed their target and landed right inside Sainte-Mère-Eglise, only to be mowed down by the
Germans,” Mary Jo said. “It was horrible.” She'd hardly been able to watch the scene, especially since the man who'd written those beautiful letters might well have been one of the young soldiers who'd lost his life there.

“I believe the group you mean was the 82nd Airborne,” Mack inserted.

“I saw that movie, too,” Roy said. “Years ago.” He rubbed the side of his face. “Didn't the men who parachuted in have a clicking device?”

“Yes,” Mack confirmed, “the clickers were handed out so the men could find one another. They were to click once and those replying were to click twice.”

“They dropped dummies in parachutes, too,” Roy said. “They exploded on impact and confused the enemy.”

“Getting back to the letters… What stumps us is the fact that they stop after that one in early June 1944,” Mary Jo said. For her own satisfaction if nothing else, she wanted to learn his fate, even if he'd been killed. All they knew was that he hadn't been listed among those buried in France or among the known dead.

“Are you sure Jacob's his actual first name?”

“That's how he signs all his letters,” Mack said. “He—”

“Mack,” Mary Jo broke in softly.

He glanced at her.

“If you wrote me, you'd sign your letters ‘Mack,' right?”

“Right.”

“But your given name is Jerome.”

Mack's eyes widened. “I hadn't thought of that. There were other Dennisons included on the website.”

“Let's go back and check,” Mary Jo said excitedly.

“There's another possibility,” Roy murmured.

“What?” Mary Jo wished now that they'd taken this to Roy earlier. Talking to him had given them a new
approach. If they found Jacob, if he was still alive or even if he wasn't but had family, they might also be able to learn Joan's fate.

“What's your idea?” Mack asked his father.

“You said he isn't listed among those who were killed?”

“That we know of,” Mack said.

Mary Jo felt it was important to add, “We couldn't find a list of the wounded, though—so he might've been injured and shipped home.”

“But we discounted that,” Mack said. “If he was injured, he still would've had a way of getting in touch.”

“Yes.” Mary Jo nodded. “If he was injured, he could've written eventually or had someone write for him.” Mary Jo was convinced that if Jacob had been capable of it, he would've found a way to tell Joan he'd survived.

“He might have been captured,” Roy suggested.

“Captured,” Mack echoed. “You mean taken as a prisoner of war? We didn't even consider that.”

Mary Jo stared at Roy, stunned. How could they have overlooked such an obvious possibility?

“Well, I guess we'll be doing some more research. You've certainly given us something to think about,” Mack said. “Thanks, Dad.”

“No, thank
you,
” Corrie told him. “It'll be a long time before I let your father live down the fact that I was right.” She gleefully rubbed her palms together. “We're going to love having you and Noelle as part of our family, Mary Jo.”

And Mary Jo was going to love being a McAfee, too.

B
ellamy Towers. Linc stared up at the four-story building in Bremerton, feeling his mouth go dry. He'd got the address of his father-in-law's office out of the telephone directory but he'd only had the street name and number. He was shocked to discover that Bellamy obviously owned the whole complex. He knew from visiting the family home that Lori came from money; what astonished him was how much.

He needed to speak to his father-in-law. Pacing back and forth in the parking lot, Linc realized that in his present frame of mind he'd make a mess of this. He was too angry to think logically or speak calmly. Linc had a temper, which he tended to fire off quickly; with enough provocation he'd say something he couldn't take back. This conversation was too important to be ruled by emotion. He needed a clear head and cool reason.

Just as he was finally ready to enter the building, out came Leonard Bellamy. The other man frowned when he saw Linc. “What are you doing here?” Bellamy demanded.

Linc bit back a sarcastic reply. He felt like telling Lori's father that he was in the area and thought they could go
for a beer together. Instead, he spoke in as polite a tone as he could manage. “I'd like to talk to you for a couple of minutes.”

“I'm busy.” Bellamy attempted to step around him.

Linc blocked his move. “Unfortunately, I have a lot of time on my hands and my guess is you know why.” The man had set out to ruin his business and had just about succeeded. Linc couldn't hang on much longer. He'd been able to find out that Bellamy had told certain influential people in Cedar Cove and adjoining communities that Linc was a gold digger who'd married his daughter for her money. Bellamy had also tried to thwart him by delaying his license application. When that didn't shut Linc down, he'd apparently spread false rumors. Not that Linc could prove it, but there'd been hints. Mack McAfee had made a point of telling him that he'd heard Bellamy was “out to get” him.

Linc had spoken to his attorney, who said there was basically nothing to be done. He could file a suit for slander or for restraint of trade but Linc would rather end this than take his father-in-law to court—especially with a weak, hearsay case.

Long before he'd set up his shop he'd done extensive research on the area. Only because he felt he could make a go of it had he decided to branch out into Cedar Cove; otherwise, he would've continued his commute into Seattle. Based on his findings, he'd obtained a loan from a local bank to cover his start-up costs and he'd drawn on his savings, sinking most of the money into remodeling the garage.

As part of his research, Linc had gone to visit various local insurance claim adjusters. These were the people who generally sent work his way. He'd talked to a number of them before he'd made his decision to move. Every
one of them had assured him there was a need for his business.

When the promised work didn't come, Linc went to see them all again. On his second series of visits Linc found his reception much cooler. The adjusters had no work to send him and weren't interested in receiving his bids. When he dug deeper, Linc learned that Bellamy was good friends with someone high up in the state insurance commissioner's office. Linc couldn't
prove
that Bellamy had used their friendship to influence the adjusters but it all added up.

He'd purchased a garage that had sat in disrepair for several years, cleaned it up and remodeled it. Then he'd hired two employees. Now these employees were twiddling their thumbs while Linc paid their wages from his dwindling reserves. Another month like the last one, and he'd have no choice but to close his doors.

“I said I don't have time, nor do I have the desire to speak with you,” Bellamy said in a tone few would question. “Now kindly step aside.”

“You're spreading lies about me in the community.” Bellamy's attitude made Linc reconsider the advisability of taking him to court. But the idea went in and out of his mind in seconds. Much as he disliked Bellamy, the man was Lori's father. Linc refused to jeopardize that relationship—or at least jeopardize it any more than Bellamy already had himself.

“We can make this all go away,” Bellamy said, his mood suddenly more affable. “With a snap of my fingers, I can set things straight for you.”

Linc hesitated. The man had essentially confirmed everything he'd suspected. “What do you mean?”

“Leave my daughter.”

“Leave Lori?” Linc couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“I'll buy you out, make all the trouble you went to in getting that garage set up worth your while. All I ask is that you walk away from my daughter and don't look back.”

How friendly he sounded. How cordial. Linc's financial difficulties would disappear if he abandoned his wife.

Linc stared at him, still unable to believe that even Bellamy would suggest such a thing.

“I hear you're late with last month's payment to the bank.”

The only way Bellamy would know that was if someone from the bank had fed him the information.

“You made a mistake when you married my daughter.” His tone grew threatening again. “You saw her as an easy target.”

“I saw her as the most incredible woman I've ever known,” Linc countered. He meant it—meant it with everything in him.

Bellamy snickered. “And that's why you married her…what, two weeks after you met?”

“Something like that.” After meeting Lori's mother, Linc felt he should have insisted to Lori that they wait. In their haste to get married, Linc had planted the seeds of suspicion within her family. In retrospect he would've preferred to meet her parents first and give them the opportunity to know him. Bellamy might still have objected, but at least Linc would've made the effort. At least he would've created the beginnings of a relationship.

“There's still time to fix this,” Bellamy said.

“You want me to leave Lori?” He shook his head as he said the words.

“Divorce her.”

The words hit him with such force, Linc stumbled back two steps. “I realize I was wrong. I should've come
and talked to you first before marrying Lori. I should have—”

Red-faced, Bellamy leaned closer and when he spoke it was through gritted teeth. “Where you were wrong, young man, was in thinking you could get to me through my daughter.”

“Get to
you?
” The man seemed to assume the entire world revolved around him and his bank account. “I didn't even know who you were.” Bellamy started to scoff but Linc talked right over him. “I married Lori because I'm in love with her. As for leaving her, I'd rather die first.”

Bellamy laughed in his face. “We both know my daughter's incapable of making a decent decision. She's an empty-headed—”

Linc had heard enough. He grabbed Bellamy by his fancy suit lapels and jerked him forward. “Don't
ever
speak about my wife like that again,” he snapped. “Lori has brains and integrity, and if you don't see that in her, I pity you.” He abruptly released the other man.

Bellamy straightened his sleeves and glared at Linc. “I could have you arrested for assault.”

“Go ahead.” If the man was determined to ruin him, he might as well do a thorough job.

“You stay married to my daughter and I'm cutting her out of my will. I swear to you that you won't get a penny.”

“I doubt you'll believe me, but I have no interest in your money.”

“You're right. I don't believe you.”

“Then that's your problem.” Linc figured he might as well leave now, while his dignity was relatively intact.

When he returned to the garage, he saw that both employees were lounging around, idly entertaining themselves. One was working on a sudoku puzzle and the
other was tossing cards into an empty coffee tin. Linc sent them both home.

An hour later, after he'd sorted through the bills that were stacked on his desk, he hung his head in abject frustration. He wouldn't be able to make this month's payment to the bank, either.

Unless something changed fast, Linc was about to go belly-up. He knew he had the option of filing for bankruptcy, but he refused to consider it. No matter what happened, he wouldn't take the easy way out, wouldn't walk away from his debts. He was the one who'd taken the financial gamble; he'd pay the price.

With his elbows propped on his desk, he shoved the hair away from his face. It was time to go home to Lori. At five-thirty, he posted the closed sign on the door.

Shoring up his resolve, Linc sat in his truck for several minutes before he headed into the ground-floor apartment. As much as possible he tried not to inflict his worries on Lori.

When he walked in, the aroma of simmering barbecue sauce tickled his nostrils.

“Lori?”

“Hi, honey, I'm out back.”

Linc followed her voice and found her dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, standing over their barbecue grill on the small patio. He kissed her the way he always did, and the instant his mouth settled over hers, Linc's worries fled. He held her tight against him, enjoying the feel of her body so close to his. Give up Lori? Walk away from the most precious gift he'd ever received? Bellamy was out of his mind, and if Linc had the chance, he'd tell him that.